1

A method comprising:generating a current machine fingerprint for a client device comprising a processor and memory, at least in part by reading data indicating current configuration states of hardware making up the client device and processing the data to generate the current machine fingerprint;

retrieving an identifier assigned to the client device;

using the identifier to obtain a stored machine fingerprint for the client device; and

providing an indication that the client device is authentic in response to determining that the current machine fingerprint matches the stored machine fingerprint.

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2

The method of Claim 1, further comprising generating the machine fingerprint further determined by current configuration states of software stored on the client device.

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3

The method of Claim 1, further comprising transmitting the identifier and the current machine fingerprint from the client device to a server for comparison to the stored machine fingerprint.

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4

The method of Claim 3, further comprising encrypting the current machine fingerprint before transmitting to the server.

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5

The method of Claim 1, wherein the current machine fingerprint is generated by a server in communication with the client device.

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6

The method of Claim 5, further comprising retrieving, using the server, raw configuration data from the client device for use in generating the current machine fingerprint.

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7

The method of Claim 6, wherein less than an entirety of the raw configuration data is used to generate the current machine fingerprint at the server.

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8

The method of Claim 6, further comprising transmitting an application from the server to the client, the application configured for retrieving the raw configuration data.

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9

The method of Claim 1, further comprising providing an indication that the client device is not authentic in response to determining that the current machine fingerprint does not match the stored machine fingerprint.

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10

A method, comprising:assigning a unique identifier to a hardware component;

generating a baseline fingerprint for the hardware component using an algorithm processing characteristic configuration data determined from the hardware component as input, wherein the baseline fingerprint is capable of being regenerated from the hardware component so long as configuration of the hardware component is not changed;

transmitting the identifier in association with the baseline fingerprint for storage in a computer-readable data structure; and

generating a data signal, in response to a query comprising the assigned identifier, indicating whether the stored baseline fingerprint for the assigned identifier matches a second fingerprint regenerated from the hardware component at a time after the baseline fingerprint is generated.

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